October 8, 2025

Viewing all things through the lens of the True and the beautiful!

A gentle periodic reminder: The Equipped is designed to not just help you see the world through the lens of the True and the beautiful, but also to help you portion-control your "news" intake beneath your intake of Truth and beauty. This approach leads to flourishing. Today is a good day to assess your overall news and information intake. Is it centered on Truth? Does it highlight beauty? Is it portion-controlled in a way that promotes flourishing rather than a sense of being overwhelmed? If not, intentionally scale back and re-focus where needed. You won't regret it!

The True

Seeing in Color

You have very likely seen one or more of the many viral videos of someone who is colorblind “seeing in color” for the first time when trying on special glasses designed to help distinguish between colors.

Full disclosure: Many of these videos are part of marketing campaigns by the manufacturers of these glasses, so they should be taken with a grain of salt. Even so, the moments remind us of a great spiritual truth worth meditating on today.

You were born to live abundantly! John 10:10—we’ve considered this promise before—says Jesus came to give you not just life, but life to the full! He came, He lived, He died, and He rose again not just so you would survive, but so you would be fully and abundantly alive!

To use our framing from this week, He came not so you could live in black and white, but in order for you to live in vibrant color! The will of your Savior is not one of trudging along. It is one marked with purpose and passion! It is a life that clearly distinguishes between good and evil, and which sets a course toward that which is True and beautiful (Philip. 4:8).

The only way to fervently follow this path, however, is to be wholly cognizant of the fact that Jesus is the only way to stay on that path. The premise into which the promise of John 10:10 is interjected is the reality that your enemy aims to rob you of that vibrant life. He aims to destroy you, and He begins by aiming for the hollowing out of your life’s fullness.

The enemy would have you see in dull grays, and he does so in order to rob you of the vibrancy required to resist him. His aim is your destruction, but his path is one of stealing your figurative ability to see in color!

So how can you deliberately choose to live in the full expression of color and vibrancy offered to you? It is really quite simple (which is distinct from easy—this is not always or even usually easy). If you want to live in full possession of what Jesus came to give, you must accept the path He gave you to walk. Your life—every facet—must be yielded and even surrendered to Him.

Surrender is a difficult thing for us humans. Our physical bodies are instinctively inclined to defend and protect everything for ourselves. We want to cling tightly to whatever we can get our hands on. It is no accident that the key to true and abundant life is in the relinquishing of that control.

Do you want trade your life of gray for one that sees in vibrant color? You can. Jesus has freely offered that life to you. But it requires total surrender. The life you lead in the flesh—the one you are instinctively inclined to preserve—must be relinquished. In its place will rise a life that sees in vibrant color!

“He must become greater; I must become less” (Jn. 3:30).

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (Jn. 10:10).

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philip. 4:8).

World

Tentative Hope

Representatives from Israel and Hamas are in Egypt to discuss implementation details of a 20-point peace plan. Both sides have tentatively agreed to large portions of the plan, but implementation may be the most difficult part of securing a firm and lasting peace, and there remains a large number of issues—including the political future of Hamas—yet to be resolved. Negotiators on both sides are aiming to accomplish a ceasefire and a hostage/prisoner swap as the first step while the larger negotiations continue.

Meanwhile, vigils were held around the world to commemorate the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that began the current war, and to pray for the remaining hostages. There are believed to be 20 living hostages still held in Gaza, and an additional 28 deceased hostages whose remains have not yet been released.

Analysis and eternal perspective: Two years is an exceedingly long time to be held hostage anywhere. It is an excruciatingly long time to be held hostage by a terrorist group in a war-ravaged region. As you continue to pray for this entire situation and the ongoing peace negotiation, keep the hostages front-and-center in your petitions. Pray for physical safety, as well as spiritual, mental, and emotional fortitude. Pray that this two-year nightmare will finally be over for those wrongly taken and held far too long.

As for the larger negotiations, it is once again worthwhile to reflect on our guiding biblical principles for this conflict. Each one of them is implicated in the ongoing talks:

1) The Jewish people continue to face persecution unlike any other people group, and the special covenant God made with them is relevant as we seek to understand the ‘why’ behind this age-old hostility (Gen. 12:3).

2) Every person on every side of the conflict has eternal value (Gen. 1:26).

3) Authorities from both Israel and Hamas have a duty to forge peace for those living under their charge (Rom. 13:4).

4) World leaders, including those playing a leading role in negotiations, have a significant role to play, and we should be covering them in prayer.

Finally, for you personally, the hope in this situation is a tentative one, but your confidence should be unshakable, and your very being should be anchored to the promises of your God (Heb. 6:19).

U.S.

A Week and Counting

More than a week into a U.S. government shutdown, there is no sign of an imminent deal to re-open the government. The last vote to advance a short-term “clean” funding extension garnered just 52 votes in the U.S. Senate, far short of the 60 required.

Democrats continue to insist that an extension of the soon-to-expire healthcare tax credits be included in any funding deal, while Republicans say the government should be funded at existing levels and the healthcare credits negotiated separately.

Analysis and eternal perspective: The longest government shutdown in U.S. history was 35 days in 2018-2019. A 21-day shutdown in 1995-96 and a 16-day shutdown in 2013 both also exceeded the duration of the current closure. While a funding deal is certain to be struck eventually, the duration of the shutdown and the terms of that eventual deal are yet to be determined.

The extent to which the shutdown impacts you personally very much depends on your individual situation. Government employees or contractors, servicemembers, and those dependent on impacted government programs feel the negative impact well before those employed by private industry and not dependent on federal programs.

You very likely have a perspective on the politics and the public policy at play in this situation. Those are certain to vary across our community, but we can be united in our intentional focus to search out and stand with those most negatively impacted. Who in your world in missing paychecks or assistance in a way that materially impacts their wellbeing? What practical role can you play to stand in that gap with and for them?

Let’s together meet those needs for each other this week.

U.S.

Abortion Pill Approved

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved for sale a second generic version of the abortion pill Mifepristone. The approval is roiling pro-life lawmakers and advocates, as it comes shortly after a promise from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to investigate the safety of the drug. The White House said the approval should not be seen as an endorsement of Mifepristone.

Analysis and eternal perspective: The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to the post of HHS Secretary attracted a lot of attention, as well as both support and opposition from both sides of the political aisle. Because his confirmation only required the votes of Republican Senators, much of his confirmation process focused on vaccines and abortion (the majority of federal programs involving abortion are managed by HHS).

On vaccines, Kennedy was mostly—though not unanimously—lauded for desiring to roll back federal mandates on vaccines.

On abortion, Kennedy mostly responded to concerns about his pro-choice position with a promise that he would support the President’s position on the issue.

The approval of another generic abortion pill certainly raises a political and policy question, and time will tell if the outcry from pro-life advocates will generate a change in the policy. It also serves, however, as a reminder for each of us to consider how we are seeking out ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in vulnerable situations.

How are you intentionally choosing proximity to the widow and the orphan, and what is one tangible way you can do so this week? Every life is precious to God and is fearfully and wonderfully formed by Him (Ps. 139:14), and you are tasked with being a tangible support to the fatherless (Jam. 1:27).

There are countless ways to begin, the best of which is to look around your community and your church to identify specific needs. If you look, you will find them. Another option to consider is A Fearless Life, which we offer as a way to connect willing adoptive families with funding to adopt from foster care.

But let this story be a reminder to choose something. You are the plan God made for addressing this need, and there is great joy and purpose is answering that call!

The Beautiful

Living Color

You were made to not just see in vivid color, but also to live in such a way that beauty and living color leaps off the pages of your life and into the world around you! The dynamic Word of God and the Holy Spirit who fills you causes the beauty of your being to spill out and over into the lives of those around you. It cannot be contained, and it is not designed to be contained!

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Eph. 2:10, NLT).